e break
of the main-deck. The swirling water touched the sides of the long-boat
and then receded when the stricken schooner struggled up from the
welter. A scuttle-butt was torn from its lashings and went by the board,
and other flotsam followed it.

Mayo found that spectacle encouraging. But the longboat sat high in its
chocks; when it did float it might be too late.

Another wave roared past, and the long-boat quivered. Then Mayo took a
chance without reckoning on consequences. He made a double turn of the
cable around his forearm and leaped out of the boat and stood on deck,
his shoulder against the stem. The next wave washed him to his waist,
tore at him, beat him against the long-boat's shoe, but he clung fast
and lifted and pushed with all his strength.

That push did it!

The boat needed just that impetus to free her from the chocks. She
lifted and rushed stern foremost to lee, and the young man dragged after
her.

When the boat dipped and halted in a hollow of the sea he clutched
the bow and clambered in. Tugging mightily, he managed to dump the
sea-anchor over.

The next wave caught her on the quarter and slopped a barrel of water
into her. But she kept right side up, and in a few moments the cable
straightened and she rode head into the tumult of the ocean; the
sea-anchor was dragging and performing its service.

Mayo was obliged to kick the two men with considerable heartiness before
he could stir them to bailing with the buckets. The bedraggled cat fled
to the shelter of the girl's arms. Mayo struggled aft, in order to take
his weight from the bow of the boat, and when he sat down beside the
girl she was "mothering" the animal.

"It's coming in faster than I can throw it out!" wailed Bradish.

"Bail faster, then! Bail or drown!"

"She's leaking," announced the cook. "She has been on deck so long she
has got all dried out."

"Bail or drown!" repeated Mayo. To the girl he said: "This seems to be
the only way of getting work out of cowards. They'll have to do it. I'm
about done for."

The waves were lifting and dropping them in dizzying fashion. There was
suddenly a more violent tossing of the water.

"That's the old packet! She went under then!" Mayo explained. "Thank the
Lord we are out of her clutches! I was afraid we were stuck there."

"Is there any hope for us now?" she inquired.

"I don't know. If the boat stays afloat and the wind doesn't haul and
knock this sea crossways, if somebod